The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-11-16

One OF the Remarkable Geysers of Yellow
stone Park.


Old Faithful. the pet geyscr of the up
per basin, is situated only few rods
from the hotel. You hear it splashing
in the night, and, If you have kept your
reckoning. can actually tell the hour
he is SO regular in his action. Never
was geyser better named. Once every
sixty minutes, without fail. he asserts
himself. The mouth of Old Faithful
protrudes somewhat, rs if he were al
ways ready to spout His is II generous
mouth, six feet by two, and twelve feet
above the level of the plateau; but the
face of him is also distended, rs if fixed
in the act of blowing. and the slope TO
the lips covers an area of l45 by 2l5
feet. You may walk up TO the mouth of
Old Faithful and look down his throat
if you like. There is nothing visible
but passage full of water. You may
drop in a handkerchief or any bit of
cloth and watch ii become saturated
and sink from view; then you can walk
few rods away and sit down under
the bushes, and, if it is near the hour of
eruption, your wisest way is to do tins
Immediately. Not that there is any
particular danger in delay, for even had
Old Faithful begun operations there
would be time to run out of reach: but
it is so pretty TO watch him ut safe
distance, and then it is only from dis
lance that one gets any idea of the
height of the geyser column. Now, by
looking at your watch you will note
that it is time for the old fellow to be-
gin; he does not vary ten minutes one
way or the other during the four and
twenty hours. With watch in hand you
listen for the preliminary rumble.
There il Isl A kind of choking sound
in his throat and II moaning as of in
testinal disturbances; this is followed by
a splutter and stopping over that is
like futile attempt.
For a moment you lose confidence;
YOU begin to fear that his day is over
for every geyser has his day, and sooner
or later that day comes to an end-and
this eruption is bound to be failure.
His reputation is 1T stake, and he knows
il, for after halt-dozen abortive dis
charges-abortive when compared with
what he has done and can do when he
is in good form, but such as would make
fame and fortune for a spring outside OF
the Yellowstone region-after tuning.
and fretting, and catching his breath,
and retching for three or four minutes
he gets mad, and bang he is off, with
4 column of water that curls outward
on every side in n magnificent capital
and wells itself in clouds of whirling
vapor, Higher and higher it climbs,
as if endeavoring to Guido himself.
You see he is redeeming his reputation,
until ut last its topmost wave seems
actually to catch an azure beauty from
the sky and to leave part of its diamond
dust aloft, there TO be absorbed by the
sunshine. In five minutes he is sat
isfied; he hats exhausted his enthusiasm
and his resources ut the same moment.
and he quietly. but majestically, and
with great dignity, subsidies with an
audible sigh. He steams vigorously for
little while and pants as from sheer
fatigue, but shortly he is as quiet as if
he had never done anything out of the
common, and he does it so easily and
so naturally that it is hard to believe
that he has.
just before the eruption the water in
Old Faithful's throat stood at tenn
perature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit
L
heit. That little freshet yonder is the
surplus, the overflow from this small
mouth, now Fastening to the river i'm the
head OF the valley. Here is the hand
kerchief you dropped into the geyser be-
fore the eruption. 1t has been thrown
thirty feet from the lips OF the crater;
had the wind been blowing it might
have lodged fifty or 100 feet farther yet
away; 1t looks Il tangled skein; but for
the knot you thoughtfully tied in it per-
haps there would not have been threads
enough of it left together 10 warrant
Identification. Notwithstanding the
regularity with which Old Faithful at
tends to his duties he is seldom twice
the same in appearance. The slightest
wind sweeps the descending water to q
considerable distance and spreads it in
many n graceful and beautiful pattern;
sometimes he resembles colossal
ostrich plume OF the most dazzling
wilderness. The real feather is not
lighter nor more susceptible 10 the in
tiucnce of the winds. There are many
geysers within range of Old Faithful.
Sometimes it seems almost as if n
rivalry must exist among them, for one
will start off with n grand flourish, and
no sooner has it got under good head
way than another, which perhaps has
been anxiously watching for some hours
and seems to be opstinately refusing TO
do its duty-no sooner does the one call
for admiration than the other bursts
upon the sight and fairly
outdoes itself in the brilliancy of its
action. Letter IN san Francisco